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Request By:

Gaynor E. Hatfield, R.N.
President, Kentucky Board of Nursing
4010 Dupont Circle, Suite 430
Louisville, Kentucky 40207

Opinion

Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General

You have requested an opinion of the Attorney General as to whether the release of the scores by name of persons who took the State Board Test to the school they graduated from would be in violation of the "privacy act".

Kentucky has no privacy act and the Federal Privacy Act has no application to state agencies. As we pointed out in OAG 76-573 (copy enclosed) Kentucky has no statute setting up a general right of privacy as to scores made on licensing board examinations. This does not mean, however, that a state agency cannot adopt a policy of withholding examination results to protect the privacy of the applicants who took the examination. The Kentucky Open Records Act exempts from mandatory disclosure by a public agency --

"Public records containing information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." KRS 61.878(1)(a).

There is no statute compelling an agency to observe this exemption and no penalty provided for releasing information of a private nature. The Kentucky Board of Nursing can adopt and follow its own consistent policy as to whether to respect the request of certain examinees not to release their scores by name to the school they graduated from.

LLM Summary
The decision addresses an inquiry from the President of the Kentucky Board of Nursing regarding whether releasing the scores by name of individuals who took the State Board Test to the schools they graduated from would violate any privacy act. The decision clarifies that Kentucky does not have a specific privacy act applicable to this situation, and the Federal Privacy Act does not apply to state agencies. It also mentions that while there is no statutory requirement for privacy in this context, the Kentucky Board of Nursing is free to adopt its own policy regarding the release of such information based on its discretion.
Disclaimer:
The Sunshine Law Library is not exhaustive and may contain errors from source documents or the import process. Nothing on this website should be taken as legal advice. It is always best to consult with primary sources and appropriate counsel before taking any action.
Type:
Open Records Decision
Lexis Citation:
1980 Ky. AG LEXIS 512
Cites (Untracked):
  • OAG 76-573
Forward Citations:
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